Investigating the Smoking Cessation Informational Needs of Cancer Patients and Informal Caregivers

Smoking Cessation in Cancer Care: Myths, Presumptions and Implications for Practice

“…Greater knowledge about both the value of smoking cessation and the ease of providing a referral for cessation services can motivate HCPs to be more active in referring their patients to smoking cessation services [47]. Tailored approaches in education provided to patients may also improve cessation efforts before and during treatment [48,49]. It is essential that given the constraints on HCPs' time and heavy workloads in the increasingly complex cancer care environment, every effort should be made to make the process of advising and referring to specialised services as efficient as possible.…”

Pivoting the Provision of Smoking Cessation Education in a Virtual Clinical World: The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Experience

“…The provision of education is a critical aspect of tobacco cessation [ 12 ]. To better understand the information that patients want to know, we conducted an assessment to explore their educational needs related to smoking across five domains: (1) General Information and Support, (2) Smoking Health and Disease, (3) Relationships, (4) Testimonials and (5) Interventions [ 13 ]. Participants were presented with informational need items and asked to rate the importance and the amount of information they would like to receive on each item.…”

“…Our needs assessment revealed that patients who smoke want a significant amount of information about smoking and cancer, namely in the domains of General Information and Support as well as Smoking, Health and Disease [ 13 ]. It further showed that patients want information about the harms of smoking on their cancer treatment, the positive impact of quitting on their response to treatment and an understanding of the reasons why some patients continue to smoke even when made aware of the subsequent risks [ 13 ]. Patients indicated that they preferred to receive this information in pamphlet form [ 13 ].…”

“…It further showed that patients want information about the harms of smoking on their cancer treatment, the positive impact of quitting on their response to treatment and an understanding of the reasons why some patients continue to smoke even when made aware of the subsequent risks [ 13 ]. Patients indicated that they preferred to receive this information in pamphlet form [ 13 ]. Although access to digital health information has proliferated in recent years, the preference for print materials is more common among individuals with low or limited health literacy [ 14 ].…”

“…The provision of practical and pertinent information that adheres to best practices in health literacy has been shown to increase disease self-management among patients diagnosed with cancer [ 20 , 21 ]. Healthcare providers must be able to provide this information to patients in a timely manner [ 13 ]. However, in the context of busy clinical environments, the process for disseminating this information needs to be easy and seamless without interruption to clinical workflow.…”